


Fractured Heart

by musicdefinesusall



Series: Picking Up the Pieces [1]
Category: Chuck (TV), White Collar
Genre: Character thinks another is suicidal, Gen, Identity Reveal, Neal Caffrey is Bryce Larkin, but not for long
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-06-17
Updated: 2020-06-17
Packaged: 2021-03-03 22:55:01
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 1
Words: 8,564
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/24763447
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/musicdefinesusall/pseuds/musicdefinesusall
Summary: Peter receives a phone call from Neal late at night. Peter mistakes it as suicidal. Neal just doesn't want to hide that he is Bryce anymore from the one friend he has.TW: Misinterpretation as a character being suicidal, but there are no genuine feelings of suicide in this story.
Series: Picking Up the Pieces [1]
Series URL: https://archiveofourown.org/series/1800319
Comments: 15
Kudos: 123





	Fractured Heart

**Author's Note:**

> Full disclosure, this was not 100% edited after I wrote it. It has been a while since I’ve posted anything for others to read, so my writing skills may be a little sloppy. And It was only recently that my desire to write fanfiction came back. Surprisingly, it came back with a White Collar and Chuck crossover. I’m in love with the idea that Neal is actually Bryce. I’m also a sucker for secret identities, so there’s that. I’m sure that not everything in the story is factual with canon and real life, but in my mind, it makes sense, and this is fanfiction. So, if some details are not correct, it is because it has been ages since I’ve watched either show. And even then, I’ve only seen a few episodes of Chuck. And I’m only in the second season of rewatching White Collar after not watching an episode for a few years because of being busy with work and grad school. I’ll probably be writing more in this universe I’ve created in my head since I’m currently working from home for who knows how long because of the coronavirus. And while motivation to work has not been at 100% while WFH, motivation to write is at the highest it has been since at least maybe 4-6 years ago.
> 
> Reviews are nice, constructive criticism is wonderful, and being a woman engineer in the automotive field, there is nothing that can be said that will hurt my feelings at this point in a review.
> 
> EDIT 23June2020: Officially made this story the first part of a series.

It was a night that Peter will always remember. For several reasons. Thinking that his friend was about to commit suicide was one of the top reasons. There is no way for someone to let go of the feeling that came with thinking that one of your friends was about to be gone forever. That sinking feeling in his stomach followed by a bone numbing chill. That would stay with Peter forever.

It started off with a phone call in the middle of the night, 2:37am Peter’s phone history would later show. His phone rang, and Peter was quick to grab it and leave the room to not disturb his sleeping wife before answering.

“Peter, is that you buddy?” It sounded like his CI, his friend, was drunk.

“Neal? Are you okay?”

A few moments of silence.

“Neal?”

“Yeah, Peter?”

“Are you okay? Do you need me to come over?”

“Peter, I don’t think I can do it anymore.” The sinking feeling in Peter’s stomach began. He grabbed his keys and wallet and made for the front door, not caring that he was in his pajamas. They were decent enough for 2:37am.

“You gotta be more specific with me – can you tell me what’s going on?”

“That’s why I called you, I think I need to get rid of Neal Caffrey. I can’t do it anymore.” Peter’s insides froze when he heard that while opening the car door.

“How much have you had to drink tonight, Neal? Anything good?” He tried for a distraction to buy himself time as he raced across the roads to get to June’s place.

“You know I always have good wine.”

“You didn’t answer my question, you have any left in the bottle? You want to save me some to drink together when I get there?”

“Peter! You’re coming to see me?” The excited voice was almost masked completely by the shock.

“Yes, I am, so you better have a glass for me so I can tell you what I think of the wine. Then you can tell me how horrible my wine tasting skills are.” There were a few worrying moments of silence before Neal’s quiet voice responded.

“I guess that would be better, killing off Neal Caffrey should be something you should be part of. You should be here for that.” 

“Neal! Don’t you dare do anything before I get there, please.”

“He’s as much part of your life as he is mine. That’s part of the problem. I don’t think I can do it alone anymore.”

“You’re not alone, Neal. I’m here for you, El is here for you, I’m pretty sure that you’ve charmed everyone on the White Collar floor to be on your side. They’re all here for you and care about you.”

“But you don’t understand, Peter. I am alone. You all don’t know who I am, you don’t know what I’ve done. You don’t know how I’ve played the biggest con on all of you to the point where I’m starting to believe it.” Peter didn’t want to think too deeply into what was being said, all the words that didn’t make sense.

“You’re not alone, Neal. You have me. And I’m almost there, so please don’t do anything until I’m there, okay? Do I have your word when I get to June’s I will be able to walk up the stairs and join you for a glass of wine and conversation, with you?” A small voice answered him.

“I don’t want your conversation to be with Neal. Not tonight. Neal won’t be here when you get here.” That urged Peter to run the last red light that was between him and arriving at June’s. Hardly anyone was on the road at this time, and it was for a good reason. He doesn’t remember parking or using the spare key to get into June’s place. She was gone for the week, off visiting family or a vacation or something. Peter didn’t remember the details, didn’t care to remember them as he bounded up the stairs to the place where he would find Neal.

“Neal, I’m right outside your door and I’m coming in. Using my key since it doesn’t sound like you’re coherent enough to walk to the door.” He was met with silence. His heart broke into a million pieces as he suddenly couldn’t get the door open quick enough. Peter was met with the picture of Neal sitting at the table, several bottles, half full glass with some red wine in it, phone off to the side, and more disturbingly, a gun in Neal’s hand with Neal staring at it with an thousand yard empty look.

“Hey, buddy. Wanna tell me how you got that gun? Probably a good story, right?” Neal didn’t answer him. “I want to take a look at it, make sure it’s clean and working right. Want to hand it over?” Peter’s heart was beating so fast he was sure it would break out of his chest. Neal turned his head and made eye contact.

“I tried to get you clearance, but no one listened to me.” Those words made no sense to Peter in the moment.

“What sort of clearance do you mean?” Peter inched forward slowly until he was seated at the table beside Neal. He was careful to make no sudden movements despite everything telling him to get the gun out of Neal’s hand as quickly as possible with whatever force necessary.

“To tell you who Neal Caffrey is of course. But they didn’t listen, didn’t think it was worth the years spent creating him,” Neal rested his forehead against the handle of the gun. “They didn’t think about how maybe I couldn’t do this anymore if I was left alone.”

“You’re not alone, Neal…”

“Don’t call me that! Not now…” Neal’s sudden outburst startled and worried Peter.

“What do you want me to call you?”

“Call me Bryce. I need to hear someone call me that again.” Peter nodded.

“Okay, Bryce. Want to hand me the gun so I can check it over? And want to tell me where you got it?” Surprisingly, Nea… Bryce handed the gun over to Peter who let out the large breath he was holding along with the tension in his body. Bryce looked up at Peter again.

“I’ve had it for years. Even longer than you’ve been chasing Neal Caffrey.” This puzzled Peter as he always knew the man before him to be against guns, but yet he has had the one he was now holding for years. It did not make any sense.

“What’s going on, Bryce? Why open all of these wine bottles tonight?” Peter tried for a different line of questioning when the previous one didn’t seem to bring forward any answers.

“I asked my handler if you could be given the clearance to know, and she denied my request. Pretty much told me to ‘cowboy up’ and deal with it. Not in those words, but they had the same meaning. Well, jokes on her cause tonight I’m dealing with it.” Bryce picked up something that he was holding in his lap and handed it over to Peter. He then grabbed the wine glass and downed the rest of the wine there.

Peter took a second to watch his friend before looking down at what was handed to him. He placed the gun at the far corner of the table away from Bryce and looked closer at the mysterious object. He would know it anywhere. Is was identification of a government agent. And not FBI or anything, it was identification for a CIA agent. Agent Bryce Larkin. Peter froze, but in a different way as much of the conversation of the night rushed back to him with an entirely different meaning. Without prompting, Bryce started talking.

“At this point, I’ve spent over half my life as Neal Caffrey. I am starting to become him and I’m not always sure where he ends and Bryce begins. I know I’m one of the best CIA agents, that’s one of the reasons why I was chosen for this deep undercover assignment. But I didn’t think I was going to be so great at conning everyone to find that I was also starting to con myself. There are times when I’ve gone days, even weeks without thinking as Bryce. This assignment is so fragile that I couldn’t risk investigating as quickly as I wanted. So, weeks, even months of not thinking as Bryce were okay. Even praised by the higher ups at being so dedicated to the alias that they would not even think of potentially compromising it by telling anyone other than them. Anyone else outside of upper management would be a liability. But I don’t think I can do that anymore, Peter. And I trust you. I don’t know where Bryce and Neal start and end. I think I’m becoming both, and I need someone to keep me on track to be Bryce.” Peter’s heart came back together and broke in a different way. He moved forward and pulled Bryce into a crushing hug. Part of it was relief at not needing to pull his friend out from initial suicidal thoughts, and another part was trying to give as much comfort as possible since a whole new can of worms was just opened. And he had no idea how to handle this.

“Something tells me that you should be sober for this conversation.”

“Peter, how noble, white knight of you! Here I am about to spill some CIA secrets that are way above your pay grade, and you turn them down? Don’t you want to know what the CIA is hiding away from the world? What conspiracy theories that Moz talks about are actually true?” For a moment it looked like Neal was back, all thousand-watt smile and everything.

“Nope. Some of us take the government chain of command and clearance very serious.” With those words, Bryce let his head fall into his hands before lowering all the way to the table.

“This is what I’m talking about, Peter! I’ve played at being Neal Caffrey for so long that I am him, and he is me. I don’t think I will fully be able to go back to honest government work after this mission is done. I’ve to burn Neal and run.” Words started to slur together.

“If you were going to do that, you would have done it already and not called me. Part of you wanted to stick with your original plan of telling me all about who you are, and don’t try to tell me otherwise.” Bryce raised his head from the table and met Peter’s gaze with his words.

“I think you’re right…” Bryce sounded lost and so much smaller than he was. Peter rubbed a hand on his friend’s back.

“So, this is what we are going to do. I’ll call Hughes in the morning saying that you came down with something. Since June is out, and your other friends were unreachable on short notice, I decided to take the morning off to help you out. I’ll stay here, your couch is comfortable enough, and we can talk in the morning once you get some rest and let the wine work its way through your system. Okay?” Bryce nodded his agreement.

Peter watched as Bryce stood up and shakily made his way to the bed. Once he was happy that his friend was asleep in the moments following after falling on the bed, Peter made his way around the apartment, first making sure that all ammo from the gun was out and placed in a drawer that Bryce hopefully would think of if he truly felt like using it. Just in case. The empty gun then went under the couch cushions before the lights were turned off and Peter spread out on the couch to try and sleep for at least a few hours after texting his wife a quick message.

Sleep came in small bursts.

Peter was still haunted by the thoughts of Neal committing suicide.

What if that still happened.

What if he never answered his phone.

What if it was a voicemail that was all that was left of Neal before he was gone forever.

What if he accidently deleted that voicemail after holding onto it for so long.

Peter brushed off the blanket and walked over to see where Bryce was asleep. Breathing. He pulled up a chair next to the bed and felt better being next to his friend after the scare earlier that night.

Eventually he must have dozed off because he next woke up to the sound of running water. Peter looked up and saw that Bryce had left his bed and was in the bathroom taking a shower. He checked his phone, made note of the 46% battery left, and read the message he received in response from El. She understood that something came up, he wasn’t able to talk about the details at this time, but she hoped everyone was okay, and that he should let her know if they will need an extra plate at dinner.

Peter stretched out his neck as he thought about the information he was given from his very drunk friend. He still almost didn’t believe it. That Neal Caffrey was an alias for undercover CIA Agent Bryce Larkin. He had so many questions but was pulled out of his musings by the shower being turned off. A few minutes later, the bathroom door opened to reveal Bryce barefoot with sweats and a plain white shirt on, towel hung around his neck catching the wet drips from his hair.

They both paused when their eyes met. Hesitantly, Bryce walked over to the table and sat down, Peter joining him with the chair he ended up sleeping in. Peter didn’t know where to start. Luckily, Bryce took that step for them.

“What did I tell you last night?” He had a hesitant look on his face.

“We’re going right to this conversation before we’ve had a sip of coffee?” Peter joked, hoping to lighten the mood a little. It worked, and he was relieved to see his friend smile – even if it was barely there. It also gave Peter time to think of how he was going to answer the question while Bryce quietly went about making coffee for the two of them. A short time later, Bryce returned with two cups of coffee and handed one over the Peter. Bryce didn’t touch his. Just left it cooling on the table, eyes fixed on Peter.

“Peter, what did I tell you?” His voice just barely cracking with worry and anticipation.

“Well, Agent Bryce Larkin, I insisted that whatever you were going to tell me had to happen when you were sober and could think straight when discussing CIA secrets.”

“I knew the wine last night was a bad idea…” Bryce let his eyes fall shut, slumped back in his chair.

“Bryce, when you called me, I thought you were suicidal. You were talking about killing off Neal Caffrey. I’m glad you reached out and trusted me enough to have this conversation, no matter how drunk you were. You are clearly hurting, and those jerks at the CIA are clearly doing nothing about it.”

“Hey, I’m CIA…” Peter cut Bryce off from his weak argument.

“I would argue you’re closer to FBI now after working with me.” A spark of an idea came to life in Peter’s mind, one that he filed away to think about later. “But as I was saying, if you’ve been in deep undercover as Neal Caffrey for all these years, and the CIA has offered minimal contact to keep your alias alive, that will start to mess with your mind. There is no doubt about that. So, you want to tell me what’s going on with you? You told me a little bit about it all last night, but I want to hear it from you while you’re sober.” Bryce sighed and finally picked up his coffee to take a few sips from the mug.

“Don’t we need to get ready to go to work?”

“You’re right, and this is the only delay you get while I call Hughes to tell him you’re not feeling well. June is out, so that left me to come over to make sure you’re actually getting rest and eating. I’ll stop by the office this afternoon to pick up some paperwork since it will turn out you had some food poisoning or some twenty four hour bug, and the only way I can stay sane around you while you’re sick is if I have some paperwork I can work through. Okay?” Bryce quietly nodded into his coffee mug.

While Peter called Hughes, he watched as Bryce picked up the CIA identification that was still on the table. He turned it over in his hands a few times before standing up and going to the fireplace. Peter was not surprised to see a hidden storage slot that Bryce pulled out and brought over to the table. He then started to look around in confusion but didn’t say anything until Peter hung up the phone after his short conversation with Hughes. Peter gave Bryce a confused look in turn.

“I know this may sound weird, but did I have my gun out here last night?”

“You did, and I took it from you. Remember, all while we talked on the phone it sounded like you were suicidal, and then I walk in here and see you with a loaded gun.” Bryce had a pained look on his face as Peter stood up to grab the gun and ammo from where they were stashed. They were set gently on the table, and Bryce automatically reached for them, doing a quick and efficient check before loading it and setting it off to the side. Old habits die hard.

“I’m sorry, Peter. It was not my intention to freak you out like that. I would have told you about all of this sooner, I’ve been trying to, but all my arguments to get you the clearance have been denied or outright ignored. Don’t get me wrong, I love undercover assignments…”

“But not when the assignment starts to become you?” Peter finished for Bryce when he trailed off a little.

“Yeah. It wasn’t until recently when I realized how bad it has gotten. The case we finished about two weeks ago with the jewelry store. In my mind I kept track of all the info I would need to take some of the jewels and replace them with fakes. Mentally thought of how I should start another offshore account for a rainy day. It wasn’t until a few days after the case was closed when I thought of it again and had to remind myself that I would never, I could not let myself truly become Neal Caffrey. I was starting to lose who Bryce Larkin is. Even with that, the higher ups denied my request to fill you in on the basics or even come up with a reason to pull me from this assignment.” Bryce looked up at Peter, “That’s what I get for being too good at my job.”

“So, you suffer because the CIA cannot afford to lose Neal Caffrey at this point.” Peter shook his head and frowned, setting his coffee mug down on the table with more force than needed. The sound made Bryce tense up for a split second before relaxing into his chair again. Peter felt some of the anger leave his body at this display.

“Bryce, thank you for trusting me, even if it is going against orders. I’d like to think that we’ve become friends regardless of our professions – even if I thought your profession was a bit different before last night. Whatever information you tell me, I promise not to break your trust. It seems clear that you need someone to talk with, even if it is just to have someone call you by your name over drinks at night.” The broken look of gratitude warmed the cracks of Peter’s heart.

“Thank you, Peter. It means a lot to hear you say that. And I trust you to give you the bare bones of who I am, even though this will definitely get me more that a slap of the wrist if the CIA finds out. You now know that I am Agent Bryce Larkin of the CIA. Neal Caffrey has been a useful undercover alias for many different missions, which I cannot tell you about. I guess I should thank you for being sort of my unofficial partner in many of them. Made it easier for me to get into prison when it all looked legit. Same with the deal the FBI has with Neal Caffrey. All legit and meant that the CIA didn’t have to fudge any details to get me where I needed to be.”

“I understand needing to keep some government secrets, but not gonna lie. Not knowing the real reasons behind your government approved cons is going to keep me up at night.” Bryce laughed at Peter’s response.

“Maybe one day I’ll be able to tell you,” Bryce smiled at Peter, “and honestly just having you know the smallest tip of the iceberg has helped me immensely.”

“You can’t tell me about your missions or any government secrets, but how about any skills you may have as Bryce Larkin that you hide with Neal Caffrey?”

“Well, for starters, you know I’m good with guns. You now know the reason why. But also add knives, several forms of hand to hand, a few other weapons. I’m a good fighter, and I haven’t had much opportunity to train recently. Let me know if you need a sparring partner – I can also teach you some new tricks that the FBI won’t teach you.” Bryce said with a wink – the Caffrey charm working its way past the cracks.

“I’m sure we can find time at the gym before or after work. The FBI building has one on one of the lower floors.”

“At some point I do need to recertify my gun skills. Prison and working for the FBI on a leash has taken away my chances to do it quietly. I was going to mess with the computer schedule for the FBI gun range to make sure I was alone and sneak the results to the CIA, since I’m actually good with computers. But it could be easier to have you bring me there under the illusion that the FBI knows I can shoot, and you would feel more comfortable knowing just how well your CI can shoot in case a situation ever occurred in the field. You want to know if I can cover for us if something ever happens.”

“You know if word gets out about that, you’re sure to have a crowd at the range.”

“I think I can sweet talk my way from having that happen.”

“Knowing Hughes, he’ll want to be there. And keeping Diana and Jones away will be next to impossible with how often you go out in the field with them as well.” Bryce thought about it for a few moments.

“If I haven’t been able to get clearance for you, I know for a fact I’ll never be able to get clearance for Diana and Jones. However, I’ve never asked if I could bring Hughes into the fold of at least knowing I am a CIA agent…” Bryce had a thoughtful look on his face.

“And speaking of Hughes, while I hate to cut this conversation short, I still need to get back home to change clothes and head to the office for a little bit.” With those words, Bryce’s excitement at telling Peter about himself fell a little, Peter could see it on his face.

“Bryce, I’m going to come right back as soon as I can.”

“No, no, it’s stupid. I know you need to head to the office and will be back soon. I just haven’t really been able to talk with anyone about all this since it started. Almost everyone at the CIA that I’ve worked with before just thinks that I’m dead.” That stopped Peter in his tracks. Bryce could see the questions on Peter’s face before his mouth even opened.

“Peter, I can’t tell you about it.” Peter’s face fell. He stepped forward and pulled Bryce into a tight hug.

“I am here for you at any time. No matter what you can or can’t tell me.” Bryce collapsed into Peter’s embrace, all tension leaving his body. They stood like that for a few minutes before Bryce pulled back and softly pushed at Peter’s chest.

“Go, make your appearance at the office. Bring us back some work to do.”

“You good while I’m gone?”

“Yeah, I have a call I need to make while you’re not here to listen in.” The Neal Caffrey smile was back, and Peter rolled his eyes.

“Don’t get into too much trouble while I’m gone.”

“Bye, Peter. I’ll make sure to hide the bodies before you get back!” Bryce’s voice called out as Peter exited the room. It took a few steps down the stairs when a thought occurred to him. CIA agents have been given permission to kill if absolutely required, don’t they?

“Nope. Not going there. Not now…” Peter refused to think about it for the time being and promised to revisit the thought once he had a good supply of alcohol with him.

While Peter headed back home to get changed before going to the office, Bryce pulled out a phone from the secret stash he had that kept his CIA info and documents safe. He dialed a number from memory and proceeded to argue the benefits of the head of the White Collar division knowing who he really is.

~*~*~*~*~*~

Peter returned later, as promised, with gifts of paperwork to work on and takeout for them to eat. He also passed on the well wishes from their coworkers who found out that Neal was home sick. They continued working for some time, Bryce not bringing up topics from earlier in the day, and the only acknowledgement from Peter about the earlier topics being that he continued to call his friend by his real name instead of his undercover name. Bryce may not have commented on it, but it warmed his heart and made him feel a little giddy.

As it came close to dinner time, Peter informed Bryce that he was invited over for the night. But Bryce declined, wishing to spend the night alone.

“Sorry, Peter. I think I need this day of not being called Neal at all before heading back to work tomorrow. Tell Elizabeth that I owe her dinner and a nice bottle of wine.” Peter nodded in understanding and laid a comforting hand on Bryce’s shoulder. No words were needed, but they both knew that they were there for each other.

“See you in the office tomorrow?” Peter didn’t mean to form it as a question, but realized it was the right way to ask it to show Bryce that he could take another day if needed. Peter would cover for him if it came to that.

“Yeah, I’ll see you tomorrow. Food poisoning sucks, but Neal Caffrey is tougher than he looks.” Peter gave one last shoulder squeeze with a smile to Bryce and stepped out the door to head home.

~*~*~*~*~*~

The next day when Peter arrived at the office, he noticed that Bryce wasn’t there yet. He went up to his office and started the day like normal. Checked on his emails, looked over some of the new case files that made their way to his desk to review, and waved or nodded a good morning to those who caught his eye through the glass walls.

It was almost to the point where Peter was tempted to call Bryce or pull up his tracking anklet information when the man in question made his appearance. In one hand was a brown paper bag with the logo of a local bakery on it, and in the other hand was a large carry out container of coffee. More importantly, it was coffee that was not made at the FBI office. Bryce was completely back to being Neal Caffrey, charming smile too early in the morning and everything.

Coffee and baked goods were left at a table in the kitchenette area of the office before he made his way up to Peter’s office. If possible, he looked even more awake and excited than usual for a workday.  
“What’s got you in such a good mood for a Wednesday morning?”

“I get to tell Hughes pretty much all that I’ve told you. Just in an approved way. And with a few more details required for his position.”

“That’s amazing, when do you get to tell him?”

“Someone from my office will be arriving soon, appearing to be a US Marshal to discuss a potential problem with the tracker. They really need to fix it ASAP, so they’re needing to give it a diagnostic check. And since you’re busy catching up on paperwork you missed yesterday, Hughes is the one who needs to be there for the process and paperwork. Once the paperwork is done, the Marshal has done all they need to do. But if Hughes keeps me in his office to discuss how my time with the FBI has been so far, well, I don’t think anyone will really question it all that much.”

“Have you thought about what you’re going to do once your mission as Neal Caffrey is over? Do you have a choice?” Peter abruptly changed topics.

“I’m sure after how long I’ve been Neal, I might be able to have a little bit of a say. But I honestly don’t know.”

“I had a thought before, since you talked about how you’re worried how your two lives are mixing. I’m already familiar with how Neal works. If some of his mannerisms came up while working with my partner, I would already know how to make it work.” Bryce gave him a skeptical look.

“Are you saying that you would want Hughes to poach me? And you would be my partner?”

“It’s a thought. I don’t want to lose one of my best friends.”

“Peter, I…” Bryce’s voice trailed off as he took notice of someone new who entered the office. He gave Peter an apologetic look and the FBI agent took that as a sign that the CIA agent playing as a Marshal was here for the meeting with Hughes.

“We’ll talk later. Go back to your desk until you’re called to Hughes’ office.”

“Yes, sir.” It was Neal who smiled back at Peter. Peter watched Bryce, no, it was definitely all Neal. The mannerisms that he knew to be the conman’s were forefront while in the FBI office, and that was something that Peter was certain of even though he knew next to nothing about the man that Bryce was. Peter wished that he knew where Bryce ended and Neal began. Pulling his gaze away, not wanting to bring any unneeded attention to him from the CIA agent who just entered the office, he began to busy himself with the papers he really did need to get finished.

He looked up and noticed when Hughes stepped out of his office to welcome the supposed US Marshal and brought her into his office. He also noticed when about fifteen minutes later Hughes stepped out again to call for Neal to join him in his office. Bryce’s acting was perfect. He shot the confused look towards Peter who in turn gave a confused look and stood up from his desk. Playing the part of a concerned FBI handler. As soon as he stepped foot outside of his office, Hughes told him to stand down – only Caffrey was required in his office. He nodded and went back to his office.

It was maybe only ten minutes before the Marshal left Hughes’ office. And it was even longer before Peter saw either Hughes or Bryce again.

~*~*~*~*~*~

When Hughes got the call late Tuesday night that there was going to be a US Marshal visiting his office, he was internally trying to prepare for the worst. While he wouldn’t admit it out loud, he was fond of the conman who somehow came to work in his office. He made everyone laugh, was one of the most intelligent people Hughes has seen in the last few years, and has proved to be a valuable asset again and again to the White Collar team. Hughes was not looking forward to the day that he walked out of the doors either in handcuffs or as a free man.

Hughes knew it had to do with Peter missing most of the day in the office. If Neal was actually sick, Hughes would spearhead the petition himself to have Neal released early from his sentence, regardless of how he felt about losing the man from his team. It would be one hell of a coincidence for Neal to miss a day of work, and then that night there is a call telling him of a meeting with someone from the Marshals.

Something was going on. And that something kept Hughes awake that night planning and plotting for different scenarios because he would not lose Neal from his team. He would keep those thoughts private, since the conman already had a large enough ego. But a few appreciative words of good work here and there were good enough.

He was somehow able to get a few hours of sleep before heading into the office. Even after thinking of dozens of scenarios of what was going to happen. Of course, he would find that the truth of what was actually going to happen was the furthest thing away from what he thought was going to happen.

Hughes walked into his office like he did every morning and went through his emails like he did every morning. In fact, he tried to do everything like he normally would every morning. He tried not to let it show that something was going to happen. Especially when he saw Peter enter the office. He pretended to be engrossed in an email so he wouldn’t meet Peter’s gaze. The agent would somehow know something was up if it was a topic that involved Neal. And he definitely made sure not to make eye contact with Neal when he walked in, especially with how cheery and upbeat he was for a morning. Bless his heart, he even brought in good coffee and baked goods for the team.

He really hoped that is was not going to be a bad visit. Or if it was going to be bad, that they would be able to keep it quiet and not make a huge spectacle out of things. Hughes watched as Neal made his way to Peter’s office. Those two were definitely a rare occurrence – two people who worked almost flawlessly with each other. Almost. When they greatly disagreed, it was like everyone should take shelter from the oncoming storm. But most of the time they seemed to work like the perfect set of partners.

Hughes was drawn from his musings when he saw someone who looked to be from the US Marshals enter the floor from the elevators. It was with a sigh and steeling himself for what was surely to come that Hughes stood up and welcomed the woman into his office. He stuck out his hand in a friendly welcome.

“Welcome to my office – can I get you any water or coffee, Agent…?”

“My name is not important. I apologize for any rudeness, but I really must get straight to the point of my visit. Officially, it is to check on the tracker that is on Neal Caffrey’s ankle. Unofficially, you need to sign these papers first, and understand that anything said in this office with the understanding that it is to remain secret, stays secret. These are government secrets, sorry to abuse the word, and they must remain as confidential as they have been during these last, I honestly don’t know how many, years.”

Hughes was officially confused but was too professional to let it show… much. Already this meeting was much more interesting and confusing that he originally expected.

“You’re not a US Marshal, are you?”

“Sign the papers, and I promise you, everything will be much clearer. And I will have someone to share the headache with…” The last part was something Hughes was sure he wasn’t meant to hear. He was intrigued and pulled the papers in question across the table so he could take a look at them.

All in all, they seemed rather generic. A standard non-disclosure agreement. Pretty much signing his life away if he ever spoke to anyone about whatever he was about to learn who didn’t have the proper clearance. There was another paper with the only hint at what was going on, and that was only because the logo of the CIA was printed on top. What did Neal have to do with the CIA?

He signed the papers.

The nameless non-Marshal still standing in front of his desk let out an almost unnoticeable sigh of relief.

Once she gathered up the papers, she told Hughes to call Neal Caffrey to his office, and only Neal Caffrey. With a questioning look, Hughes stood up and did what he was told. Too curious to say anything about being ordered around in his own office. So, he called out across the bullpen for Neal to join him in his office and made sure that Peter stayed out of whatever it was that was happening since he seemed to have a second sense when it came to his CI.

Hughes sat back down behind his desk and looked up to watch Neal’s expressions as he joined the two of them. As expected, Neal betrayed no thoughts besides confusion at being called to his office. No recognition towards the probable CIA agent who almost forced him to sign the papers against his will.

“Sir…?” Neal questioned as he sat in one of the empty chairs in front of Hughes’ desk. The ‘definitely a CIA agent Hughes was sure’ finally took a seat as well. Before Hughes could speak, the dark brown haired lady cut him off.

“Cut the crap Larkin, he signed the papers. Like you wished. No, like you demanded. You know why I am here, and you know why you were called into this office.”

“I have no idea what you mean…”

“For fucks sake, I can’t do this game today, Bryce. It grew old years ago.” At least it sounded like a fond exasperation.

“What gam…”

“Nope. I’m out of here. My job is done. I have the signed papers, the rest is on you.” At that, Neal almost did seem sorry at how far he pushed, whatever was going on.

“Wait, Maria, don’t you want to wait at least for me to tell him?” Hughes was growing more confused by the second. The probable CIA agent, Maria, if Neal was correct, shook her head and walked towards the door.

“Nope. Enjoy your new headache.” It wasn’t clear who the last part was directed at as she walked out the door leaving Hughes and Neal alone in the office.

“Caffrey, what was that about?” Hughes hesitantly asked. Unexpectedly, Neal grinned and fearlessly looked up at Hughes from where he was sitting.

“I guess the best way to describe her is that she is my main point of contact while I’m undercover.”

“And by being undercover, you mean…”

“I’m a CIA agent. Neal Caffrey has been my undercover alias all of these years for several missions. She hates when I keep my cover 100% in her presence when I don’t need to.” Neal said with a huge smile.

“You’re a CIA agent…? Why should I believe you? This could just be an elaborate con?”

“You got a phone call from someone from the CIA last night, and I know you did all the checks you could to verify it was real and not some sort of con. Same with the paperwork you signed – you’ve been in white collar long enough to recognize if an official seal is reasonably real. And then there is my CIA identification that I brought in, very carefully, for this meeting. Do whatever checks you need to do on it.” With that, Neal pulled out his CIA badge and identification card, handing them over. Hughes waited a moment before leaning forward and grabbing what Neal held for him to inspect. He looked back up at the younger man before him before taking a good look at the proof before him.

At first glance, everything looked legit. Everything pointed to Neal Caffrey actually being Agent Bryce Larkin of the CIA. Which brought up many more questions, first of which was why the CIA had an agent in his office. That would be a question to ask once he validated the identification before him. He also knew that the man before him was a master forger, so he took extra care to try and spot any mistakes.

Everything he could check visually passed. He then turned to his computer to see check what he could through the various government databases available. However, being CIA, there would not be much to verify. That was something Hughes was sure of. But there were a few identification numbers he could run to cross-check with the info he had before him. Throughout this whole process, Neal was uncharacteristically silent and still.

Before Hughes finished all the inspections he could think of that he could do in his office, since he was sure he wouldn’t be able to give the identification to a forensics team to analyze, he came to accept the answer that was before him. That Neal Caffrey was in fact an undercover alias for CIA Agent Bryce Larkin. A new headache indeed.

“You believe me now?” Bryce asked as he was handed back the identification. Hughes made eye contact and kept it for a few quiet moments.

“Yeah, I guess I do. What is a CIA agent doing in my team?”

“Somehow, that doesn’t surprise me as the first question you would ask.”

“And that’s not an answer.”

“Classified.” Hughes gave Bryce a look at that answer. Bryce shrugged his shoulders. Hughes wasn’t sure if he liked the new form of confidence that came with the CIA agent title, he was used to Neal the conman who deferred to Hughes’ experience. “And technically, despite appearances out there in the world, I do have a higher clearance and ranking than you. So, yeah. Classified.”

Before Hughes could protest or answer in any way, Bryce carried on.

“However, because I trust you and respect you, I will say at least that your whole team is clean. That is all I will unofficially say about why I am here in the FBI. You did not hear that information.” Hughes understood and started to try and piece together what he could from the small slivers of information he was being offered. By saying that his team was clean implied that there was enough threat that other areas of the FBI were not. And that was what Bryce was investigating at this time.

Hughes gave Bryce a thankful nod in recognition. He received a hint of a smile in return as acknowledgement.

“So, you have seen all of my files, I assume.” Hughes put that out there. If Bryce investigated his office, then it was reasonable he would have investigated the head of the office.

“I’ve seen more than just your official files.” Hughes let out an unexpected laugh and got more of a small smile in return.

“Peter knows, I assume?”

“Peter knows a lot of things. You’ll have to be more specific.” Bryce was not going to be thrown by the change of topic.

“Cut the crap, Larkin,” Hughes echoed the comment from earlier. “I wasn’t born yesterday. Peter calls in and says that you’re out sick, and that he’s staying with you for the day. Then that night I get a call saying that a US Marshal, who turns out to be CIA, has a sudden meeting with me where I find out my team’s CI is in fact CIA. You better hope no one else puts these facts together.”

“Well, all due respect, sir, no one else knows it was a CIA agent in here to make that connection.”

“No one except Peter…” Bryce knew when to cut his losses when that was Hughes’ response.

“No one except Peter.” He sighed while answering.

“Why him? And why now?” Bryce hesitated in his answer, and Hughes could see that maybe he overstepped in his questions from a professional curiosity to a personal. He almost felt bad. Bryce looked away, looked away towards the wall that would be in the direction of Peter’s office.

“I trust him. He is the first agent, first person in a long time that I trust to have my back. That does not happen often. Especially not when I’ve been shot in the back before. Literally.” Hughes could see the clear difference and knew that it was Agent Larkin he was talking with right now. Not whatever character he created to play the part of Neal Caffrey. He appreciated the blunt honesty, even if it took a few tries to get there.

“And he’s my agent. What would you do if he was in trouble?”

“What wouldn’t I do? He may be your agent, but he’s my partner. Has been for many years now even though he may not have realized it until recently.” Hughes studied the man before him in silence. They kept eye contact the whole time. Neither blinking.

“Can I poach you from the CIA whenever you’re done with this Neal Caffrey business?” Bryce didn’t let the abrupt topic change trip him up and only laughed.

“If I didn’t know any better, I would think you and Peter were already plotting together to steal me from the CIA. He asked me a similar question this morning.” That got a smile from Hughes. He would allow it in this case. He would stick to what he thought before about Neal Caffrey – he was a great asset to the team.

“Do you mind if I go grab him? There’s a few things I would like to talk about with both of you together.”

“Go for it, you’re the boss here.” Bryce smiled back with hints of the Caffrey charm poking through. A mischievous look crossed Hughes’ face.

“Do you mind if I play with Peter for a few minutes? I want to see firsthand how he handles the pressure of a CIA secret.” In return he got the full Caffrey smile and charm.

“He can’t hate us for long, go for it.” With that, Hughes got up from his desk to pull Peter into the meeting. And when Hughes took his seat again, he had to admire how Bryce went from open amusement to the face of a conman who was much further down the ladder in the chain of command. Neal briefly met Peter’s questioning eyes as he entered the office, letting the door close behind him. Full ‘I have no idea’ look broadcasting to Peter complete with the smallest shoulder shrug and slightly worried look on his face. Internally, Hughes already knew that he would do whatever it took to keep Larkin on his team.

“Hughes, what is this about?”

“Take a seat, Peter.” Peter complied with the request.

“It has come to my attention that you may know some information that you shouldn’t know.” It was at that moment when it clicked for Bryce what exactly Hughes was doing. He knew he could trust Peter, but this was the ultimate test. Bryce felt bad about putting Peter through this, but Hughes had his reasons. After all, Bryce has read everything in the files, officially and unofficially, about Hughes. He has his reasons. At Peter’s questioning look towards his boss, Hughes continued.

“Information regarding our CI here…” Hughes let the statement turn into a question with the drawn out statement. Peter chanced a look at Neal, trying to see if he could tell what way to answer from his friend. But Neal was a blank book, staring intently at his hands folded in his lap. The very picture of a conman trying to look innocent. Peter knew how he had to answer.

“I saw the US Marshal visit earlier, is something wrong with his tracker and he’s kept it hidden? Honestly, Hughes, I have no idea what you’re talking about.” Hughes let the silence linger after Peter’s answer. He let Peter sweat, even if it was mostly internal and not visible. Peter was too good of an agent to let his current anxiety show, not knowing for sure if Hughes knew about Bryce or not. Hughes smiled. Peter had an idea of what was happening but was not going to be the one who put words to it. And Bryce was the one who wanted everyone to put away the ruler.

“Hughes, stop. We both know that Peter is trustworthy. And we both know that he knows who I am. And I know that you’ll keep the fact that he knows secret.” Hughes responded.

“You’re right, Larkin.” And with that, Peter let out the breath he was unconsciously holding during the exchange. “And Peter, you and him better take care of each other. I don’t want anything to happen to either of you. I want to keep both of you on my team for as long as possible.” Bryce could hear the claim that Hughes was already staking on his file. It would be interesting when his time as Neal Caffrey came to an end.

“Sir, yes, sir.” Was Bryce’s response combined with a half assed salute. Peter’s answer was a nod and a roll of the eyes with Caffrey coming back full force combined with Bryce’s confidence with Hughes.

“Larkin,” Hughes called before the door of his office was opened. The man in question turned around.

“You know, you never answered me why you told Peter now, after all these years.”

“Buy me a drink first, and then maybe I’ll talk.” Bryce shot back and opened the door to leave the office. Peter looked mortified at the talk back that was happening. Hughes made a motion to Peter to forget about what just happened. It was as Bryce and Peter were heading back to Peter’s office when Bryce whispered, “You do know that I technically outrank him in the chain of command, right?”

That stopped Peter where he was walking with a surprised look at Bryce. No, not Bryce. He was full Neal at this moment, playing a government sanctioned con on everyone in the office and enjoying every moment of it now that he had two people who were in on the secret in his almost daily life.


End file.
